First Time Welding Aluminum

I though I would post some pictures of my first attempt at welding Aluminum. I had allot of help from a friend. I was surprised at how much filler I was using, is this normal for Aluminum? Seems like I had to crank up the heat to get the puddle to flow then add lots of filler to keep it from burning through. I kept the current just above melting. I was using a near verticle torch position.

Materials: 3/32 plate, 1/8 Tungsten, 3/32 filler, 15lb Argon.

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This is the picture of my friends bead.

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I noticed mine had more heat around the weld.

I tried to do a butt weld and it came out similar but penetration was not that great. I tried to add a little more current to increase penetration but the width of puddle got out of control.

Feedback appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Reply to
Dave
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Looks nice, keep up the good work................

Reply to
Welding

You should be using a smaller tungsten and filler...other than that ...looks good!

Reply to
Doobie

Reply to
Welding

Looks OK, but your filler is too big and the tungsten is alos bigger than you need.

For 3/32" aluminum (~0.095") you should have:

1/16" or 3/32" Lanthanted tungsten. 100 amps dialed on the machine. 1/16" filler rod. 20-25 CFH Argon.
Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Thanks for the replies.

I'm going to try the smaller tungsten and see if I can crank up the heat and get more penetration. I was keeping the current as little as possible because the puddle was too wide.

Maybe a little more gas and heat will help with the porosity I'm seeing on the underside when joining two plates.

Thanks.

Reply to
Dave

A comment a few days ago mentioned sharpening the tungsten for aluminium, the idea being that the ball would form at the point appropriate for the current in use. If I want more penetration, I go slower and add filler at a slower rate, I don't increase the amperage. No idea if that's proper, be glad to hear some more comments.

Reply to
Brian

I gave it a try last night and going with a smaller tungsten helped allot. I was able to slow down and got more penetration.

I was getting a little bead on the underside but it had a split going down the middle. No matter the penetration this split was present and would follow the seam. Also I was not able to get rid of the crud on the backside.

I called my friend and he said "when working with alloys and stainless, for butt welds and pipe you have to back fill with gas to get a clean weld." Makes sense.

I still don't understand the split. Must be the crud not bonding and then cooling.

Reply to
Dave

What is your base alloy? If it is 6061, then you should bevel the welds and use as low a welding temp as possible. You want as little diffusion of the weld metal into the base metal as possible.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

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